Rotary road-grader



C. C. STEWART.

ROTARY ROAD GRADER' APPLICATION FILED MAY 2, m9.

Patented Mar. 16,1920.

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WITNESS ATTORNEY c. c. STEWART.

ROTARY ROAD GRADER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY2,1919.

Patented Mar.16,1920.

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WITNESS 746W 4 TTORNEY C. C. STEWART.

ROTARY ROAD GRADER.

APPLICATION men MAY 2, l9l9.

1,334,001 I Patented Mar. 16, 1920.

A TTOR/IEY Specification of Letters Patent.

cnmns CHESTER STEWART, or DODGE .oITY, KANSAS.

ROTARY ROAD-GRADER.

Patented Mar. 16, 1920.

Application filed'May 2, 1919. Serial No. 294,827.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES C. STEWART, a citizen of the United States,residing at 1 Dodge City, in the county of Ford and State of Kansas,have invented .certain new and usefulImprovements in Rotary Road-Grraders, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of a rotary road grader of a type carrying agrading tool adapted for rotation and operation in sub" stantiallyhorizontal planes.

Rotary road graders or excavators generally operate upon a verticalplane and are limited in the width of excavation made. In cases wherethe purpose sought is the grading of a roadway of substantial widthscrapers operating upon a narrow width must be driven a number of timesover substantially the samelengthof road. Where such graders of widearea are used, provision must be made'for considerable power to haul themachine, due to the large in.- creasein resistance ofieredby the widesweep V in the material.

By utilizinga rotary cutting tool operating in the horizontal plane, Ihave found it possible to grade a substantial width of path at oneoperation with the added sav- "ing in time and energy required todrawthe grader over the ground.

A further ob ect of my invention consists in the operation of a:rotary'cutting-t'ool utilizing a portion o'f'its edge as a fulcrumrelatively stationary in the ground and serves to multiply the cuttingforce created by the forward movement'of the machine.

A further object of my invention is in improvement in the means foradjustment as will be shown hereinafter and described.

' In the drawings Figure 1 shows a side elevation of 'a vehicleembodying my improvements;

Fig. 2 shows anend view and indicates in what manner adjustment may bemade of the plane of cutting; v 7

' Fig. 3 is a plan view of the device; and

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section of certain adjustment features, saidsection being taken on the line 4.-4 of Fig. 1.. I

Fig. 5 is a section on line 5 5 of Fig. 3.

The vehicle 5 forms the structure for car- Tying the grader. The vehicleis pivotally mounted at its forward end on the pair of wheel 6, Whilethe wheels? mounted on axle 8 serve "to support the rear of the wehicle.The axle 8 is made laterally slidable in the frame of the vehicle and onas rear portion carries a toothed rack 9. Vertically journaled intheframe of the vehicle adja cent the axle 8 will be found the'shaft 10carrying a toothed pinion in engagement with the rack 9. .By .means ofthe hand wheels 11 "mounted on the shaft 10, the axle S and the wheelscarried thereby may, be adjusted laterally for the purpose of determiningtthe position of the grading move- I.

ment of the cutter, hereinafter mentioned.

Centrally mounted on the vehicle is the frame 12, rigidly reinforced bymeans of the horizontal struts 14 .taIld the inclined of theantifriction rollers 27. Vertical ad -v journaled at 23 and 24 in V Thistube 25 is supjustment of the tube 25 is permitted by means of a cable28 extending from the top to the bottom of said tube on the outside,

"and its middle "portion wrapped around and fastened to a transverseshaft 29 journaled of the shaft 29 carries the gear 31 in mesh with theworm gear 32. The worm gear 32 is journaled in the bearings" 33and'terminates at one end in the universal joint- 34. To this universaljoint is attached a 'shaft '35 carrying a hand wheel 36.

The structure 12 1s longitudinally recessed to carry the block 26movably adjustable in a longitudinal direction. Means for'this ad- 'inthe frame in the bearings 30. One *end justment is provided by the shaft37 engaged in a thrust bearing 38 of the block I 26 and screw threadedas at 39 in the structure 12. A universalvjoint 40 connectsth'e shaft'36 to a shaft 41. Upon the shaft a1 7 is mounted a hand wheel 42.

The chain 43 extending. from the forward part of the frame connectswitha ring 44: at the base of the tube 25. This chain permits the tube'to bepivoted in 'a'lon'gitudinal plane backward of the vertical position" Vthe surface cut.

where one of the chains 45 is shortened, the

shown in Fig. 1 and provides for an adjustment in the depth of cutting.The ring -14 carries on opposite sides eyelets to which are attached thelateral adjusting chains 45. The upper ends of these chains are fastenedto shafts i7. ried vertically in hearings on the frame and carries keyedto its upper enda gear wheel 48. This gear wheel is in mesh with thespiral threaded shaft 50 which is carried horizontally in bearings 49 onthe frame. A universal joint 51 transmits motion to this shaft from theoperating shaft 52. By means of the hand wheels 53 mounted on shafts 52it is possible to tilt the cutting member and thus adjust theinclination of It will be obvious that opposite one will be lengthened.The two, after adjustment, will form a rigid reinforcement for the tube25.

From the above descriptionit will be evident that this machine providesmeans to control the adjustment of .the out which it is desired to makein the ground traversed by the device. j r The requisite inclination isgiven tothe tube in a lateral direction providing that one side edge 17will penetrate the, ground.

This side edge now becomes the fulcrum and the forward movement of thevehicle will cause the cutting disk 15 to rotate around 7 the relativelystationary side edge, causing the advance of the rear edge17 and itscorresponding result of scraping such material as is found. above itsedge and carrying it to the opposite or elevated side of the cutter 15fThismaterial having been conveyed and elevated above the natural surfaceof the earth will be delivered from within the cutter wheel 16. Byadjusting the laterally extending chains 45 the inclination of thefinished roadway can be determined and varied. It will also be possible,when using this machine for throwing up a ditch or dike, to givesuflicient inclination so that l the material delivered from the upperside of the cuttin'gmember is raised with the least possible expenditureof power and to the highest possible'point. The use of one side of thecutter as a fulcrumabout which the cutter will turn provides for aminimum of energy to be expended in the grading operation and acorresponding minimum of friction loss between the cutter and theground. In this case the cutter moves with the material that is to becarried and delivered to the side and there is, relatively speaking, nofrictional loss caused by the sliding of the material along the surfaceofthe cutter blade.

The particles of material excavated by the depending 1111181" surface ofthe rotating flange at its lowest po1nt,.as shown in Fig.

.2, are compelled to travel laterally of the The shaft 47 is car-.

machine. As indicated in Fig. 3, this portion of the flange travelslaterally with the material until it reaches a point directly in rear ofthe lower point of the tube. At the same time the flange is rising dueto the tubes inclination and at this point the material is dischargedbeneath the edged the flange.

This portion its free rotation, successively rising and falling untilitpenetrates a new portion of the road orother material to be excavatedat the lower limit of the flanges travel. The initial engagement withthe earth is substantially without lateral movement. It follows that theforward movement of the vehicle advances the shaft beyond this point asa fulcrum and promotes the: efiectiveness of that portion of the flangewhich is at this moment excavating and conveying the ma terial.

of the flange then continues The path of the operating portion of theflange, which is taken as an example of the operation of all parts ofthe flange, is that generally termed cycloidal. V

The cable 28 is sufficiently loose so that no strain willbe imposed uponthe tube 28 during the operation of tilting the latter in a rearwarddirection.

. What I claim s: V c 7 1. In a gradmg mach1ne,a shaft ournaled forrotation therein, a circular cutting at right angles thereto, a cuttingflange carried by said member and means for depressing the rear portionof said member.

3. In a grading machine, a shaft journaled for rotation therein, acircular'member mounted on the lower end of said shaft at right anglesthereto, a cutting 'fiange depending from said member and means toincline the axis of the shaft laterally of the machine. I

4:. In a grading machine, a shaft journaled for rotation therein, acircular member mounted on the lower end of saidshaft at right anglesthereto, a cutting flange depending from said member and means to adjustthe-shaft vertically.

5. In a grading machine, a shaft journaled for rotationtherein,acircular cutting blade mounted on the. lower. end of; saidshaft, meansto adjust said shaft vertically, and means to incline saidshaft longitudinally of the machine. c l Y i 6. In a grading machine, ashaft journaled for rotation therein, a circular cutting device mountedon the lower end of'said shaft, means to adjust said shaft vertically,means to incline said shaft longitudinally of the machine and means toincline said shaft laterally of the machine.

7 In a grading machine, a shaft journaled for rotation therein, acircular member mounted on the lower end of said shaft at right anglesthereto, a cutting flange carried by said member adapted to excavatematerial at one side of the machine.

8. In a grading machine, a shaft journaled for rotation therein andinclined from the vertical, a circular member mounted on the lower endof said shaft at right angles thereto, a cutting flange carried by saidmember adapted to excavate material at one side of the machine and toconvey the excavated material to the opposite side.

9. In a grading machine, a shaft journaled for rotation therein, andinclined from the vertical, a circular member mounted on the lower endof said shaft at right angles thereto, a cutting flange carried by saidmember adapt f x to excavate and convey material, said ni8 'yiber beingrotatable by the travel of the machine.

10. In a grading machine, a tube, means to adjust said tube vertically,means mounted therein, a shaft carried by said tube and adapted for freerotation therein, means mounted on opposite sides of the tube to adjustsaid tube laterally, means to position the tube longitudinally of themachine, and

means to adjust the tube vertically, the said several adjusting meansoperable from a remoteportion of the machine.

12. In a grading machine, a shaft journaled for rotation therein, acircular member mounted on the lower end of said shaft at right anglesthereto, a cutting flange carried by said member adapted to excavate andconvey material to one side of the machine, means to incline said shaftlaterally, a traction member in rear of said circular member, and meansto shift said traction member with respect to said circular member.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

CHARLES CHESTER STEWART.

